you a
present. I like boys."

"_What_ have you brought?" was the canny question.

Ah, what _had_ I brought? I must make up my mind quickly, for to cement
a friendship with this boy might be important. "A wrist-watch," I said,
deciding on a sacrifice. "A ripping watch, with radium figures you can
see in the dark. It's on a jolly gray suede strap. I'll give it to you
now--that is, if you'd like it.'

"Ye--es, I'd like it," said little Fox-face. "But my mother and father
don't want any one except Kramm to come in here. I'd get a whopping if I
let you in."

The door was wider open now. I could easily have pushed past the child;
but I was developing a plan more promising.

"Are your parents at home?" I primly asked.

"Yes. They're home, all right. They're never anywhere else, these days!
But they're in the garden court. I was going up to my room when I heard
the row at this door. I thought it must be Krammie."

"Look here," I said, "would your mother mind if you came out with me? I
know her, so I don't see why she should object. I'd give you the watch,
and a tophole tip, too. I think boys like tips! What do you say?"

"I'll come for a bit," he decided. "Mother'd be in a wax if she knew,
and so'd Father! But what I was going upstairs for when I heard you was
a punishment. I was sent to my room. Nobody'll look for me till food
time, and then 'twill only be Kramm. _She's_ all right, Krammie is! She
won't give me away. She'll let me in again with her key, and they won't
know I've been out. But we've got to find her."

"I'll find her," I promised. "Come along!"

He came, sneaking out like the little fox he was. I caught a glimpse of
two steps leading down to a stone vestibule, and beyond that a heavy
wooden door which the boy had shut behind him before beginning to parley
with me. Gently as I could, I closed the baize door, which locked itself
automatically; and the child being safely barred out from his own
quarters, I broke it to him that we must delay seeing Kramm. She'd be
sure to fuss, and want to bundle him back! We'd better have our fun
first. There was time.

Fox-face agreed, though with reluctance, which showed his fear of that
"whopping." But he brightened when I proposed foraging in the big hall
for some cakes left from tea. To my joy they were still on the table,
and, seizing a plate of chocolate eclairs, I rejoined the boy on the
terrace. We sat on a cushioned stone seat, and Fox-face (who said that
his